How do you/we afford such extravagant computer systems?

[GoStumpy]

Looking over some build threads, looking at tri-fire GTX580's, SB-E CPU, watercooling loops that I *know* are in the 4-digits...

How is this possible? Justifyable? (second one isn't really necessary )

I had a hard time shelling out $1000 for a computer and I make decent money in a double-income home!

Thoughts?

Example: FileZz's water build in Cases forum:

3x 7970 (Aren't they like $500 each?), SB-E 3930k ($600), plus everything else...

I'm jealous and intrigued!

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Don't know man. I can't justify it myself. Different priorities I guess. Or maybe some just have tons of spare cash?

 

[DesiPower]

idk, never understood it either, my 6870 plays BF3 and MW3 seamlessly... never understood why you need 2 or 3 of those darn things...

 

[Anubis]

we have jobs

 

[Sonikku]

Computers aren't what they used to be. It seems like back in the 90's just a basic run of the mill computer with nothing but integrated video ran you 2 grand. These days you can make a pretty respectable gaming machine on 1. 2 grand today buys you a very high end machine and this is in a time when minimum wage is nearly twice what it once was. Electronics have gotten massively cheaper. With an inflation adjustment, even more so.

With that said people have different living situations. If you have a wife and kid to care for obviously you have less cash burn. If you're single working some IT job, or even if you're single making minimum wage living in your moms basement with no living expenses, almost any computer price becomes viable.

 

[Crono]

I don't.

I've always built within the budget range. My current Phenom II X4 computer cost less than $500 including monitor and a small SSD for the OS.

 

[rudeguy]

Some people take extreme pride in their rigs. I am over that. I just need something that transfer stuff to my phone and lets my browse the web.

My phone is a different story but that's only a $300 investment. I could never see droping $3k on a rig that will be outdated in a year and worth half what you paid. More power to the people who do though. It gives me something pretty to look at.

 

[DominionSeraph]

They don't have lives.

Even if you're making bank and are fiscally responsible so you can easily afford such a rig, the "fiscally responsible" says you won't buy something that ridiculous.
I can afford such a rig, but I do great on a $350 Dimension E521 from 2006 with a $35 9600GT on a 21" CRT I got for free. I simply don't need anything more. My BiL has nearly a million saved, but instead of spending $2000/yr on a computer, he takes his wife on international vacations twice a year. His gaming rig is just a Phenom II X4 925 and 6770 (recently upgraded from a 3000+ and 320MB 8800GTS for under $200) with a monitor he salvaged from work.

 

[Crono]

Oh, and I'm building a duct tape and cardboard case computer for a friend. It's built around a P4 CPU with 1GB RAM, but it's going to serve as a oldschool console emulator/arcade machine. It's good enough for web browsing and word processing, as well. Total cost: $30

 

[rudeguy]

They don't have kids.

FTFY

 

[Red Squirrel]

It's super cheap to build a computer nowdays. Then again that states have seen that for much longer than I have. I remember when a basic computer used to cost near 3k to build. A motherboard would be like 600 bucks, video card would be around 400 bucks, hard drive about 200 bucks for the base model (like a 40GB when 60GB was the highest). Now I can build one for slightly under 1k. Hardware has been dirt cheap for the past few years. And in the states it's half of what we pay, so I can only imagine how much cheaper it is there.

I'm sure lot of the people building these kick ass machines also hold on to them for a long time. People will buy a 20k car and by the end of 2 years it's starting to rust and needs lot of repairs, while a 3k computer might last 5+ years before more money needs to be put into it. I've had my current PC for at least 5 years, probably more like 7. I was in college when I built it. It's a dual core with 4GB of ram - it's the max the motherboard can handle. I have a gforce 8600 in there. That's kinda a joke now days. But it does what I need.

 

[busydude]

Meh, it is their fucking money.

 

[FoBoT]

my first home built computer, in 1993 cost me $5000
Intel 386DX-33 Mhz, 8 MB RAM, 210 MB HD, 8 bit Soundblaster, 14.4bps modem, 14" CRT monitor
no CDROM, they weren't out yet

 

[dighn]

It's super cheap to build a computer nowdays. Then again that states have seen that for much longer than I have. I remember when a basic computer used to cost near 3k to build. A motherboard would be like 600 bucks, video card would be around 400 bucks, hard drive about 200 bucks for the base model (like a 40GB when 60GB was the highest). Now I can build one for slightly under 1k. Hardware has been dirt cheap for the past few years. And in the states it's half of what we pay, so I can only imagine how much cheaper it is there.

I'm actually kind of shocked that the OP thinks 4-digit computers are extravagant, but I guess they are now, considering how cheap computers are in general these days. but man even 1k+ machines are deals compared to what we used to pay for decent machines.

and really a couple of grand for a machine that has a useful life of several years really is not all that much. unless you live very frugally, you probably spend more money annually on other equally frivolous things. just different priorities.

 

[SZLiao214]

Some people just have different hobbies.

 

[lxskllr]

It's a hobby. A dragster isn't a practical car, yet people sink a lot of money and time in them. It's something to do.

 

[janas19]

my first home built computer, in 1993 cost me $5000
Intel 386DX-33 Mhz, 8 MB RAM, 210 MB HD, 8 bit Soundblaster, 14.4bps modem, 14" CRT monitor
no CDROM, they weren't out yet

Wow... that's crazy

 

[DominionSeraph]

I'm sure lot of the people building these kick ass machines also hold on to them for a long time.

Not the rigs OP is talking about. GTX 570 SLI or crossfire'd 6950 rigs may be built to last a while, but once you get to the point of $1000 processors and triple $500+ video cards you're only looking at people whose epeens are tied to having "the best." They upgrade as soon as the next "best thing" comes out.

 

[ponyo]

Some people just have different hobbies.

Exactly. Computers are pretty cheap hobby compared to something like cars.

 

[jlee]

It's super cheap to build a computer nowdays. Then again that states have seen that for much longer than I have. I remember when a basic computer used to cost near 3k to build. A motherboard would be like 600 bucks, video card would be around 400 bucks, hard drive about 200 bucks for the base model (like a 40GB when 60GB was the highest). Now I can build one for slightly under 1k. Hardware has been dirt cheap for the past few years. And in the states it's half of what we pay, so I can only imagine how much cheaper it is there.

I'm sure lot of the people building these kick ass machines also hold on to them for a long time. People will buy a 20k car and by the end of 2 years it's starting to rust and needs lot of repairs, while a 3k computer might last 5+ years before more money needs to be put into it. I've had my current PC for at least 5 years, probably more like 7. I was in college when I built it. It's a dual core with 4GB of ram - it's the max the motherboard can handle. I have a gforce 8600 in there. That's kinda a joke now days. But it does what I need.

Visit The Garage before you buy your next car, then...that's not normal at all.

 

[JPS35]

I just take it out of petty cash for the week...

 

[Red Squirrel]

Visit The Garage before you buy your next car, then...that's not normal at all.

Yeah it is. Salt does that. If you are fortunate to live in a place where they don't salt the roads, then maybe cars do last longer. They don't make cars like they used to. They are purposely made to rust so you can buy a new one faster. You can get undercoating etc to try to make it last longer though, but I'm talking about if you don't do anything special to it.

Not the rigs OP is talking about. GTX 570 SLI or crossfire'd 6950 rigs may be built to last a while, but once you get to the point of $1000 processors and triple $500+ video cards you're only looking at people whose epeens are tied to having "the best." They upgrade as soon as the next "best thing" comes out.

That's a good point. I knew someone that every time a new piece of hardware would come out, he would actually build a whole new machine. No joke, he built a new machine like almost every week. I'm not even sure what he did with his "old" ones. He either had a serious F@H cluster going on, or he was selling to cover the cost of building the new one. But yeah that is way over excessive.

 

[Slew Foot]

Corporate tax deduction

 

[DominionSeraph]

my first home built computer, in 1993 cost me $5000
Intel 386DX-33 Mhz, 8 MB RAM, 210 MB HD, 8 bit Soundblaster, 14.4bps modem, 14" CRT monitor
no CDROM, they weren't out yet

You sure you have the date right? The 386 was old by '93. 1993 was the year the Tandy Sensation came out with a 486SX-33, 4MB RAM, a 212MB HDD, Soundblaster 16, and a double-speed CD-ROM, for around $2000.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Boredom